The Snowbirds have been in the sky for 55 years. They bid Canada Day farewell (for now) | Opinion

The CF Snowbirds flew over Ottawa as part of the Canada Day ceremonies. Photo by Jean Levac /POSTMEDIA

Article content

For generations of Canadians, Canada Day in Ottawa has included a familiar ritual: looking skyward for red-and-white jets.

Article content

With Wednesday’s 1 p.m. flypast — heavy rains forced the cancellation of their 4 p.m. demonstration — the Snowbirds’ iconic CT-114 Tutor jets made what is expected to be their final Canada Day appearance, another milestone in the aerobatic team’s storied history.

Article content

Article content

Article content

It won’t, however, be the last chance for local fans to see the Canadian-built jets. The Snowbirds are scheduled to perform at the AERO Gatineau-Ottawa air show Sept. 18-20.

Article content

Article content

But that’s their last confirmed appearance in Canada. Two U.S. air shows remain in October, and there is still hope they could be cleared to perform a Grey Cup flypast in Calgary in November.

Article content

After that, following a run of 55 years, the aircraft will be mothballed and the 431 Air Demonstration Squadron, better known as the Snowbirds, put on hiatus until new planes — turboprop Swiss-made CT-157 Siskin II trainers — can replace the Tutors. It’s expected that the Snowbirds demonstration team won’t be flying again until the early 2030s.

Article content

At least that’s the current plan.

Article content

Snowbird 11 Co-ordinator: Captain Paul Faulkner took Postmedia photographer Ashley Fraser for a flight over Ottawa in 2017. Snowbird 10 Co-ordinator: Captain Blake McNaughton was in a second plane flying with Faulkner over Parliament Hill. Photo by Ashley Fraser /POSTMEDIA

Article content

Canadian defence procurement has a habit of falling behind schedule, and changes in government can bring changes in priorities. But if the schedule holds, Wednesday marked the beginning of the end not just of a fleet of planes, but of a distinctly Canadian tradition.

Article content

You could see it on street corners Wednesday, when people stopped whatever they were doing to look up and watch them fly past.

Article content

Article content

Canadians love their Snowbirds.

Article content

The Snowbirds flew over Ottawa as part of the Canada Day ceremonies. Photo by Jean Levac /POSTMEDIA

Article content

Article content

Former Snowbirds commander and pilot Dan Dempsey has thought a lot about that relationship. When I asked him on Canada Day what went through his mind when he flew over Parliament Hill, his first answer was simply “pride.” But after reflecting on it — and after watching Wednesday’s flypast on TV from his home in Victoria — he emailed to offer a fuller response.

Article content

“The more accurate answer would be the Canadian flag,” he wrote. “That is what I see when the Snowbirds do a flypast anywhere in Canada. No organization flies the Canadian flag more proudly or to more locations in Canada than the Snowbirds.”

Article content

And Canadians, he says, feel they’re a part of that, which is why he believes most of us don’t think of the Snowbirds as being part of the military, but rather as belonging to Canada.

Article content

Former Snowbirds pilot Dan Dempsey, with Golden Hawk, a Sabre plane, in a 2014 file photo. Photo by Kâté Braydon /POSTMEDIA

Article content

Dempsey remembers one Canada Day in particular. In 1990, the Snowbirds celebrated their 20th anniversary and Canada’s flag’s 25th as Queen Elizabeth watched from Parliament Hill. After its initial flypast, the team returned and performed the first-ever nine-plane Canada Burst directly over the Peace Tower, trailing red and white smoke.